[[quoteright:311:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/relichunter.png]]->''"Welcome to Ancient Studies. I'm not really a stickler for attendance, from time to time I'm called away from the classroom myself."''-->-- '''Sydney's''' Season Two pre-credits introduction.

Relic Hunter was a television series that ran for three seasons in {{syndication}} from 1999-2002. Relic Hunters are adventurers who travel the globe to track down lost or stolen objects and return them to their owners or donate them to museums, sometimes for a fee but never working entirely for profit - unless they're this week's bad guy who'll get their comeuppance at the end.

The [[ActionGirl tough girl]] heroine, Sydney Fox (Creator/TiaCarrere), is a renowned Relic Hunter but also has a day job as a university professor of Ancient Studies which she is somehow never fired from despite taking a ridiculous amount of unscheduled time off to Relic Hunt (occasionally LampShaded by a boss who complains Sydney is never in). Her Hugh Grantesque teaching assistant Nigel Bailey (ChristienAnholt) accompanies her on hunts and largely gets used as the comic relief, whilst secretaries Claudia (seasons one and two) and Karen Petruski (season three) hold the fort back at Trinity College. The latter two were respectively played by LindyBooth and TanjaReichert.

The show sometimes features bursts of cheesy dialogue and various national stereotypes and all violence is carefully [[DiscretionShot filmed around]] with no visible blood for reasons of transmission time.

----!This programme provides examples of:

* ActionGirl: Sydney Fox. Relic hunting can be dangerous business, and Sydney is an expert in various martial arts. Even when she's back at her office we frequently see her practicing her kicks and punches.* ActionDressRip: At a garden party held by the Greek minister of culture, Sydney gets into a fight with two goons and tears a slit in her cocktail dress in order to be able to kick properly. Later in the same episode, she tears off most of her skirt so she can climb a building, leaving only just enough material to prevent a PantyShot as the camera [[MaleGaze zooms in on her from below]].* {{Adorkable}}: Nigel Bailey* AdventurerArchaeologist: Guess who?!?* AncientConspiracy: Quite often such conspiracies center around the relics Sydney is looking for.* ArtisticLicensePhysics: Episode 13 features the diamond of Thutmose III, which is revealed to have a refractive index so high that it "absorbs light and doesn't allow it to escape". Apparently, this mostly means it fires a [[FrickinLaserBeams big exploding laser]] when you shine bright light on it.* BadassBookworm: Sydney.* BadHabits: Sydney and Nigel dress up as monks/nuns more than once.* BeethovenWasAnAlienSpy: Many of the plots revolve around a mysterious artifact that granted a historical figure amazing powers. * TheCastShowoff: Sydney gets to sing on occasion. Tia Carrere is also a singer and sang the AwardBaitSong for ''WesternAnimation/BatmanMaskOfThePhantasm''. * CowardlySidekick: Nigel isn't always one but has his moments.* DisguisedInDrag: Episode 63 involves Sydney and Nigel dressing as harem dancers to infiltrate a Persian palace.* DistressedDude: Nigel, more than once.* DoesntLikeGuns: Sydney doesn't.* EverythingsBetterWithMonkeys%% * EvilIsNotAToy* FanService: ** Sydney didn't have much of a nudity taboo and needed surprisingly little encouragement to take her clothes off.** Her first scene has her teaching introducing a class on tribal culture by demonstrating pacific island styled dance in a bikini. She spends most of the next scene in her bra, changing clothes in front of Nigel who she's known for all of ten minutes.** The season one credits even include a shot of her taking off her top! ** Nigel also gets {{ShirtlessScene}}s, though he's far more reluctant than Sydney to take his shirt off.** Claudia often wears skimpy and revealing clothes, though unlike Sydney she tends to keep them on.* {{Flashback}}: Every episode begins with one, set in the distant or not-so-distant past. * HollywoodNerd: Nigel and to a lesser extent Sydney.* HotLibrarian: Sydney during her university job (though she is a professor, not a librarian)* HuntingTheMostDangerousGame: "Run Sydney Run".* IdenticalGrandson: The Thief of Baghdad was apparently an identical distant ancestor of Sydney's. She also had an identical grandmother who was a singer at the Moulin Rouge.* ImprobableAge: Sydney looks like she's about 30 years old in the first season (Tia Carrere was 32 when it was shot), yet she is already a full professor with her own secretary. * IncrediblyConspicuousDrag: Nigel's harem dancer disguise in episode 63 is not particularly convincing, even with the veil over his face.* ItBelongsInAMuseum: Most of the relics do. Sydney's mission often is to ensure they end up there.* LargeHam: Many of the differing villains might fit this.* LingerieScene: Sydney gets quite a few of these. * MacGuffin: Many of the relics Sydney is hunting.* MegaCrossover: Part of the epic crossover fanfic "Chicago Convergence". %% * MentorOccupationalHazard* MudWrestling: Check it out [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ymxt4dmARNg&feature=player_embedded here]].* NakedPeopleAreFunny: Episode 8 contains a scene at a Swedish nudist spa, with about 5 minutes of continuous SceneryCensor, as well as Nigel DiggingHimselfDeeper while attempting to talk to a sunbathing girl.* NoNudityTaboo:** Sydney obviously doesn't have a problem with strangers seeing her in her underwear.** As the nudist resort episode shows, she has no problems with them seeing her completely naked either.** In episode 2 of season 1, Sydney insists on sharing a shower with Nigel (there is no sexual intent, she is just really dirty and needs to clean up quickly). The scene ends up with a wet and miserable-looking towel-clad Nigel standing outside the bathroom door, with Sydney calling for him to come back in. "Bathing with people of the opposite sex is a great way of relaxing."%% * OireLand* OneTrueSequence: More often than not, the bad guys and Sydney turn up more or less simultaneously at the place where the relic-of-the-week is hidden. Usually this is not by coincidence: sometimes one party shadows the other, and other times both parties react to a clue that's suddenly made public. * ParentalAbandonment: Sydney's mother is dead and her father rarely around, Nigel is an orphan.%% * PunctuatedPounding* ShamelessFanserviceGirl: ** Sydney doesn't seem to mind taking her clothes off in front of strangers.** In episode 8, Sydney and Nigel must enter a Swedish [[NakedPeopleAreFunny nudist spa]] to search for a medieval runestone. Sydney doesn't appear to have any problem with this at all, while Nigel is plainly uncomfortable and agrees to the plan only after [[UnresolvedSexualTension Sydney promises not to look]].** Then in episode 13 she's forced to undress inside a taxi in order to remove a less-obvious-than-[[IncrediblyObviousBug usual]] listening device, while the driver watches. She does eventually force him to wait outside, at least.* ShootTheMoney: Whenever Sydney and Nigel travel to foreign locales, particularly the castles. * SiblingRivalry: Nigel and Preston.* SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute: Claudia replaced with Karen.%% * TheKnightsTemplar* UnlimitedWardrobe: Other than her field outfit, Sydney seems to have one. So do her secretaries.* {{UST}}: ** Sydney and Nigel - played for laughs when they have to go undercover in a [[NakedPeopleAreFunny nudist colony]]. ** To a lesser degree, Karen and Nigel.* ValleyGirl: Claudia, who at one point confuses astrology and astronomy.-->'''Sydney:''' For her, history starts with Marilyn.\\'''Nigel:''' Monroe?\\'''Sydney:''' Manson.